Leschper: Forecast looks good for archery season

Will Leschper

Sunday

Sep 30, 2012 at 12:01 AM

Texas' archery deer season began Saturday, signaling a start to the four months that hundreds of thousands look forward to all year.

By all accounts this fall's forecast has shaped up to be great - likely not a blockbuster season - but in a state with the country's largest deer population it doesn't have to be for most hunters to reap the benefits.

Last year's seasons saw more than 650,000 hunters harvest nearly 575,000 deer, according to Texas Parks & Wildlife Department estimates, which is right near the average for the past decade in each figure. The harvest actually was a decrease from the previous year when nearly 650,000 bucks and does were taken.

Regardless, there should be plenty of carryover, and paired with fair to good range conditions, it means there will no shortage of healthy deer to be harvested from the Rolling Plains to South Texas.

Alan Cain, Texas Parks & Wildlife's white-tailed deer leader, oversees the program that has been responsible for producing amazing results, mostly through the efforts of biologists and others tasked with using research to maximize the oversight and implementation of hunting practices.

Cain said that regardless of what part of the state you're hunting, the odds are good that you're closer to bigger bucks than you may realize. And he would know - he has loads of detailed data dating back decades and gathered in various forms by biologists. Cain also spends time throughout the year discussing all things whitetail with biologists, land managers, hunting associations and even the average hunter himself.

Simply, he knows his deer.

He said production from this past season should bode well, including having a good fawn crop across much of the state and a solid carryover of 11/2-year-old bucks and does into this fall. He pegged the overall Texas whitetails at roughly 4 million animals, and said that number is sure to have an impact on range conditions.

However, the regular hot spots should remain that way this season.

"Especially in low-fence country you had water holes dry up, creeks dry up and deer are going to move around to where there's water," he said. "Some hunters may see more deer if their stock tanks are full. If you get to where the bulk of the state is under drought for two, three or four years that's when you're going to start seeing things change. We haven't had anything severe like that yet even though we've had some individual years that are pretty tough."

Cain pointed to one hot spot as an example of how deer manage to survive and even thrive in exceedingly dry years.

"One area affected most (by drought) was in the Edwards Plateau," Cain said. "Their (Boone & Crockett) average for 61/2-year-old bucks was 109.19. The seven-year total is 115.45 so they had a six-inch decline. However, some years it's been as high as 119 so you still have some decent size antlers.

"When you look at last year's average and compare them with the seven-year average they're still within a few points so it shows how resilient deer are. It all goes back to habitat. More people are doing a better job of managing their land. There's probably more supplemental feeding going on which helps keep them on a steady nutritional plane even during droughts. And I think people are trying to do the right thing and harvest more deer."

Cain also noted that carryover of younger deer bodes well not only for this season but at least the next few - and not just in South Texas but the entirety of the state.

"In 2005 we had a 34 percent fawn crop for South Texas which is one of the better ones overall so in theory you should have more 71/2-year-old bucks out there," he said. "In 2007 we had a 31 percent fawn crop so you should have a fair number of 51/2-year-old bucks out there. That means you should have a number of buck deer in that mature age class.

"You'll kind of have a gap in 41/2-year-olds; in 2008 we had a 14 percent fawn crop and in 2009 we had an 11 percent fawn crop, which was a really bad drought year. That type of age class is probably similar across the state."

For many years, Texas hunters typically may have harvested the first buck they saw, which had detrimental effects on the buck populations in many areas. As a result, antler restrictions were implemented in a half-dozen Post Oak region counties in the late 1990s. They were designed to improve the age structure of bucks, increase the opportunity to harvest those bucks and encourage better habitat management. For the most part, that framework has been wildly successful and the restrictions are now in place in more than 60 counties.

Cain said the outlook has improved for many hunters and there has been a steady shift statewide in letting deer get more age on them.

"The age structure appears to be getting better (in antler restriction areas)," he said. "You're beginning to see a shift. Areas where they've had the longest restrictions, which is in the Post Oak region, you're looking at 60 to 70 percent of the bucks are 3½ or older. Last year's data for that area shows 65 percent or better in the 31/2-year-old age class which is the age the restrictions are designed to get bucks to. They appear to be working and working well."

Cain noted that heading into the fall the strength of the big buck forecast rested in large part on production thanks to great range conditions from the earlier part of the past decade. It is a good bet that many of those bucks made it through last year's seasons and while they may not hit their top potential when it comes to headgear, they still should be impressive. Biologists from the top of Texas to the bottom unanimously agree that the best way to improve the age class and overall structure of a deer herd is to let larger bucks walk. Then again, there's nothing wrong with harvesting a mature buck, especially when you've got one in your sights.

There's no doubt that Texas is the epicenter of the big deer craze, which is highlighted by hundreds of thousands of acres closed off by high fences and supplemental high-protein feeding year-round, but it's also the epicenter of the everyman's dream, which is seen every season. Like clockwork, there are numerous stories each fall of hunters harvesting their buck of a lifetime on small low-fence tracts, typically deer that they never had laid eyes on before which simply roamed into new territory.

There's no better time than the present to partake in the annual fall tradition that is whitetail hunting. And it's a sure bet that it will be time well spent.

WILL LESCHPER'S WORK HAS BEEN RECOGNIZED BY THE OUTDOOR WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA AND THE TEXAS OUTDOOR WRITERS ASSOCIATION. WRITE TO HIM AT WILLLESCHPEROUTDOORS@GMAIL.COM OR FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER @LESCHPERW.

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